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Carr v. Georgia Loan and Trust Company

Supreme Court of Georgia1899-04-19
108 Ga. 757

Summary

Holding. The trial court properly directed a verdict for the plaintiff where the plaintiff presented evidence of a chain of title through a deed to secure debt, a reconveyance, a judgment execution with lien, and a sheriff's deed from sale under execution, while the defendant presented no evidence of title. The judgment was affirmed.

The plaintiff brought an action to recover land, presenting evidence of a deed executed to secure a loan, proof that the original grantor possessed the property in good faith, a reconveyance deed executed to place title in the grantor for purposes of levy and sale, a judgment execution with a special lien on the land, and a sheriff's deed conveying the property to the plaintiff following sale under the execution. The defendant offered no evidence of title. The trial court directed a verdict in the plaintiff's favor based on this chain of evidence.

The court addressed several procedural and evidentiary matters arising from the case. It established that a trial judge has discretion to allow additional evidence after denying a motion for nonsuit, and that a directed verdict will not be set aside merely because a nonsuit was refused earlier. The court also clarified rules regarding the authentication of deeds, the admissibility of sheriff's deeds, and the proper use of execution documents in land disputes.

Summary generated by law.co from the public-domain opinion. The opinion text itself is public domain.

Key issues

  • Admissibility of deeds with discrepancies in execution and recording dates
  • Requirements for authentication of sheriff's deeds in tax and judgment executions
  • Sufficiency of evidence to support directed verdict in land dispute
  • Authority of corporate officers to execute deeds on behalf of corporation
  • Proper use of alias executions as evidence versus enforcement tools

Procedural posture

The case was a complaint for land tried before a judge in Crawford superior court in March 1898, where the trial court directed a verdict for the plaintiff, and the defendant appealed.

Authorities cited

No cited authorities resolved to law.co cases yet.

Opinion

majority opinion

Fish, J.

1. The court may in its discretion, after overruling a motion for a nonsuit, permit the plaintiff, over the objection of the defendant, to introduce additional evidence. >

2. Even though the defendant be entitled to a nonsuit at the conclusion of the evidence submitted by the plaintiff, yet if the nonsuit be refused, and evidence be subsequently introduced which demands a verdict for the plaintiff, a verdict in his favor, directed by the court, will .not be set aside because of the refusal of a nonsuit.

3. Where the name of a corporation as grantor together with its common seal is affixed to a deed by one signing his name as treasurer of such corporation, the presumption is that such officer had authority to execute the instrument in behalf of the corporation.

4. Where the defendant objects to a deed offered as evidence by the plaintiff, upon the grounds that it bears false dates of execution and registry, and that it is not properly attested, and is allowed by the court to submit evidence in support of his objections, and proves by the grantor in the deed that he executed it while in possession, though at a time different from its date, and also shows its true date of record, the deed is admissible in connection with such evidence.

5. When a sheriff’s sale has been made under an original tax execution, an alias fi. fa. issued under \ 892 of the Political Code is not admissible in evidence, in lieu of the original, for the purpose of supporting such sale. That section provides for the issuing of an alias tax fi. fa., in place of the lost or destroyed original, for the purposeof enforcement by levy and sale, at the instance of the party entitled to control the original, and not for the purpose of being used in evidence as an established copy of the original under which a sale has been made.

■6. A sheriff’s deed purporting to have been made by virtue of a tax execution is not admissible in evidence unless accompanied by such execution.

7. Plaintiff in complaint for land submitted the following evidence: a deed to himself to the premises in dispute, executed in pursuance of § 1969 et seq. of the Code of 1882, for the purpose of securing a loan made by him to the grantor; proof that the grantor, at the date of the execution of such deed, was in possession of the premises under a bona fide claim- of ownership ; a deed subsequently executed by the plaintiff, reconveying the land to his grantor, and reciting that it was made in accordance with £ 1970 of the Code of 1882, for the purpose of placing the title in him for levy and sale under a judgment obtained by plaintiff against him for the secured debt; an execution issued upon such judgment reciting, a special lien upon the land, with levy made after the filing and recording of such reconveyance; and a sheriff’s deed, made by virtue of a sale under the levy, conveying the land to the plaintiff. Held, that such evidence was sufficient to authorize the trial judge to direct a verdict for the plaintiff against the defendant, who submitted no evidence of title.

Argued February 13,

Decided April 19, 1899.

Complaint for land. Before Judge Felton. Crawford superior court. March term, 1898.

R. D. Smith and L. D. Moore, for plaintiff in error.

H. A. Mathews and Anderson, Anderson & Grace, contra.

Judgment affirmed.

All the Justices concurring.